Economic Growth Needs to be Inclusive

By Alexandra McCann, Executive Director, ONSIDE

2020 has shown us clearly that not everyone is benefiting from the rise of the 4th industrial revolution, the promise of trickle-down economic strategies and global market deregulation. COVID-19 inequalities, Black Lives Matter, Truth and Reconciliation, and the sustaining MeToo movement have pulled the wool back from our eyes. It is clear that some geographic locations, some sub-sets of people, and some specialized skilled workers have been able to access the resources and opportunities necessary to generate economic prosperity while others have not. Further, that the infrastructure necessary to mobilize access to good jobs and economic opportunities has changed. Access to internet, data, software, and the skills to analyze complex information continues to create a wedge between those who are able to move ahead in our modern world and those who will be left behind.

In mobilizing recovery and generating economic prosperity, it is well established that start-ups and new business ventures add jobs to the economy at a faster rate than existing businesses. Entrepreneurship can be a real driver of value creation, developing solutions to tough global problems such as diagnostic tools for COVID-19 testing and vaccines, as well delivering financial returns for investors. Additionally, innovation-based and market-creating entrepreneurship can offer tangible benefits in fostering economic growth; Clayton Christensen’s Prosperity Paradox suggests that key benefits of this kind of entrepreneurship is the pull of resources, skills, supply chains, new efficiencies and jobs-to-be-done into an economy. The spin-off activity from market-creating innovation support not only technology deployment, but can impact an entire value chain from university researchers, software developers, equipment suppliers, to exporters and even the retailer on the corner who all become part of a dynamic network connected to this activity. It is this interconnected system that leads to growth and prosperity. 

Nevertheless, the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship’s (Ryerson University) recent Inclusive Innovation Monitor notes that the access to and benefits of innovation and entrepreneurship in Canada have not been distributed evenly and inclusively. Women, indigenous, black, and rural communities have missed out on the wealth generation, skills development, and job security opportunities associated with participation in the innovation economy. As we have seen, wealth inequality does not only mean that you don’t have access to the latest iPhone, it may also mean that you are at greater risk of negative health outcomes from COVID-19, you cannot start a new business because you don’t have high quality internet, and the level of education you can practically achieve is limited. In fact, the Inclusive Innovation Monitor indicates that “By 2016 the richest 1 percent of the population in Canada held 16.4 percent of all wealth, while the bottom 60 percent held just 12.4 percent.” The current global conditions give us an important opportunity to re-assess our values and re-imagine the world we want to live in. 

I am so looking forward to the Nova Scotia-focused Inclusive Innovation Monitor that we are developing with the Brookfield Institute, and the conversation it will generate around how we can move forward on inclusive innovation together. 

Inclusive economic growth will accelerate our recovery. 

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